The present invention relates to an identification card comprising at least one opaque card layer, at least one magnetic track applied to one side of the card with a carrier band and covered by one or more layers, and a printed pattern applied to the card surface and to methods for producing it.
Identification cards (referred to as "ID cards" in the following) are widely used today as identification cards, check cards, or customer cards. For automatic processing, these cards are provided with magnetic stripes on which person-related, card-related and/or other information is recorded. This information may be updated constantly if desired.
The magnetic track is applied by laminating band or transfer band techniques. The laminating band technique involves prefabricating the magnetic track on a carrier band in the shape of stripes. This band is embedded in a subsequent step in the card cover film together with the magnetic coating. In the transfer method, the materials and series of layers are selected in such a way that the carrier band can be removed from the card cover layer after the magnetic layer has been transferred thereto.
The magnetic track itself is generally brown or black. These colors drastically restrict the possibilities for designing the printed pattern on the card. There have been attempts to integrate the magnetic track better into the card design by taking additional measures.
European patent application No. 0 071 850 proposes to integrate a magnetic track into the card design by its shape. The magnetic track may be in the form of an "insular" but still longish stripe. Although the magnetic track is preferably covered by a non-magnetic metal layer and/or a layer of color, it can still be recognized as a magnetic track. This "insular" stripe no longer divides the printed pattern of the card so harshly into two completely separate zones.
The card design is made to enclose the area of the magnetic track so that the appearance is less disturbed by the track. This specially cut magnetic stripe is applied to the card together with one or more layers of color by transfer band techniques. In one embodiment, the transfer band carrier bears a layer of color and a magnetic layer thereabove. The magnetic track is given the desired shape by punching out the transfer layers on a carrier band using appropriately formed tools. The excess layer material surrounding the stripe is then removed and the shaped layers are applied with the aid of the carrier band to the transparent cover film layer. The carrier band is removed and the "insular" magnetic track overprinted with color is pressed into the film.
The magnetic stripe provided in this way thus adds color to a printed pattern applied to a deeper core layer of the card. In order to optimize the color-covered magnetic track to the particular design desired, both the shape of the magnetic strip and the overprint color must be selected for each series of cards.
For each series of cards a unique matching transfer band must be produced. Furthermore, each change in the card series requires replacing the transfer band and the sheet register synchronization.
Because separate transfer bands must be prepared for each series of cards in EPA No. 0 0 071 850, the transfer band registration is additionally complicated by the phase relation of the band to the card. This adjustment must be performed anew before producing each card series. Small-lot production is made much more expensive and mass production is difficult due to the amount of effort involved.